Xavier’s state title hopes dashed in shootout against Norwalk

DES MOINES- Owen McCarron was on his knees, the bottom of his jersey pulled up to his face.

The Cedar Rapids Xavier keeper was bleeding from his nose, heavily. He might have been emotional too, but it was hard to tell. Norwalk (18-4) had just snuck in the winning shootout goal in the 2A boys' state soccer championship, so the disappointment, the sadness, perhaps even the anger were all there in his actions.

Then, Norwalk keeper Hunter Pappan, a senior, wandered over to McCarron - a freshman - and shared a few words of comfort, telling him he had more years ahead of him and that he had played a great game. McCarron seemed to acknowledge it, got up and walked back to the trainer as his teammates tried to console him.

For as close as the game was, the penalty kick shootout wasn't. Norwalk went first, nailing the shot. Xavier (14-5) immediately missed, as Luke Duball's shot hit the crossbar. The Warriors hit another. The Saints had one saved.

Xavier made its third attempt, but it didn't matter. Chase Sinclair sent another past McCarron and Norwalk walked out of Cownie Soccer Park on Saturday with a 2-1 (4-1) victory for its second straight state title.

'It was a tough game,” Xavier head coach Amir Hadzic said. 'We played hard, we executed the game plan well, I cannot tell a word to our kids because they really played the game the way we anticipated.

Senior forward Luke Duball had the lone goal for the Saints. It came in the 43rd minute of the game, early in the second half, off a beautiful shot that hit the crossbar and got behind Pappan.

It was a culmination of a tremendous effort by the Saints to put the ball in the net. Xavier had 19 shots on the day and looked, numerous times in the first half, that it was about to take a lead.

Norwalk, however, certainly wasn't a slouch.

The Warriors had 18 shots and Kason Crall tied the game in the 72nd minute after acollision in the box had McCarron on the other side of the net. The Norwalk midfielder saw the loose ball and snuck it by a Xavier defender.

Throughout the match it felt like it was just a matter of time before the Warriors were going to be able to put one in.

Missed opportunities were very much a story of the game for the Saints, who had a great chance about 12 minutes before Crall's goal to send one in. Xavier forward Justin Schneider had the ball with only one defender to beat, but sent an errant shot across the net, which missed.

'I thought both teams had opportunities back and forth,” Norwalk head coach Dustin Kralik said. 'By the end of the game, it was just a game of attrition.”

Physicality was going to be the name of this particular matchup, which shouldn't have really come as a surprise. A total of 20 fouls were called and two yellow cards handed out.

Saturday's match was the third time in four years the two programs had met in the state tournament. It was, however, the first time they'd met in the finale of the tournament - the other two times had been in the semifinals, which they split.

Norwalk beat Xavier in 2014, while the Saints were victorious the year after. For the 16 seniors on the Xavier squad - many who had seen all of this - it was especially tough.

'Even though it didn't go the way we wanted it to at the end, we played as a team,” Xavier defender Maliki Wilson said. 'We won as a team, lost at the end as a team. I wouldn't take it back for nothing.”

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com